NORMAL, Ill. – After competing on their home track last weekend, the Illinois State men's and women's track and field teams return to the road this week when they head east to compete in the Virginia Challenge, hosted by Virginia. The two-day meet will commence Friday, April 20, and conclude Saturday, April 21.
Friday's events are scheduled to occur in two sessions. The morning portion of the program will begin at 10 a.m CT, with the evening program kicking off at 6 p.m. CT.
Friday morning will feature the women's pole vault and discus competitions. In the women's vault, Ariana Cranston will look to build on her personal-record setting performance from last week when she cleared a Valley-best 3.87m (12-08.25). Sydney Laufenberg will look to do the same in the discus after recording a personal-best heave of 52.36m (171-9) to win the event at the Redbird Invite.
The men's pole vault duo of Ryan Ashenbremer and Luke Nelson will be in action on Friday night. After both clearing 5.08m (16-08.00) last week, they currently rank first in the MVC, 33rd in the NCAA West region, and fifth all-time in ISU track and field history.
Anderson Devonish and Ben Montgomery will also take to the track on Friday evening when they compete in the invitational section of the 400-meter dash. In Devonish's last 400-meter appearance at Arizona State's Sun Angel Classic, he clocked in at 46.38 to win the event. His mark still ranks first in the Valley and 11th in the NCAA West region.
Saturday's agenda will be structured the same way, with the morning program starting at 9:30 a.m. CT and the evening session beginning at 6 p.m. CT.
The Redbird men's and women's hurdles squads will be in full force on Saturday. After finishing one-thru-three in the 100-meter hurdles at last weekend's Redbird Invite, Demetria Anderson, Mya Robinson, and Jordyn Bruce will all be back in action this weekend. Anderson and Bruce will double-up, also competing in the 400-meter hurdles. For the men, Jaylan McConico will compete in the 110-meter hurdles.
Saturday's evening slate will also include Jack Anstey, who will be running in the 1,500-meter for the first time since he posted a 3:43.22 at the Stanford Invite on March 30. His time still sits first in the MVC and 10th in the NCAA West region.
In addition, this will be the first weekend that the Redbirds' multi-athletes will compete in the heptathlon and decathlon. Tessa Holland and Ashlee Stieler are entered in the heptathlon, and James Brandenburg and Jordan Wilkerson will participate in the decathlon.
Holland and Brandenburg captured the 2018 MVC indoor titles in the pentathlon and heptathlon, respectively.
The evening portions of the Virginia Challenge will be broadcasted live on the ACC Network Extra. The stream will begin at 6 p.m. CT both nights.
Live results of the Virginia Challenge will also be provided. Redbird fans can follow live action of the meet on Twitter via @Redbird_TrackXC.
Full coverage will also be available on GoRedbirds.com following each day of competition.
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